Scientists Tested a New Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes

Doctors are currently using stem cells to treat a variety of medical conditions — and that list could soon become even larger. In one case, that’s because of the findings described in a paper published in the journal Cell, which focuses on efforts in China to use pluripotent stem cells to successfully treat a patient with type 1 diabetes.

What makes this study especially intriguing is that the scientists used reprogrammed fat cells for this task — not a solution one might expect for a diabetes diagnosis, but still an effective one.

After successfully testing the procedure with mice, the scientists used adipose tissue from their patient to generate what they referred to as “chemically induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived islets,” or CiPSCs. These were then re-introduced into the patient’s body, where they stimulated the production of insulin. As the scientists pointed out, the patient no longer needed to take insulin 75 days after the procedure. One year later, the effects of the treatment have persisted.

The results of the study even surprised the scientists conducting it. “The rapidity with which the patient showed reversal of diabetes and achieved insulin independence after transplantation was surprising,” lead author Hongkui Deng told Live Science’s Tia Ghose.

According to the paper published in Cell, the scientists observed that “further clinical studies assessing CiPSC-islet transplantation in type 1 diabetes are warranted.”

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The study showed promising results

When might we see something comparable tested in the United States? That’s less clear. The FDA has, to date, only approved one stem cell-based therapy, though Utah’s state government clashed with them over a different procedure earlier this year. But if this becomes a viable way to treat type 1 diabetes, which can have widespread effects on the body, it could make a significant contribution to human health.